Living On A Prayer

Brian turned the engine off in his car with a sigh. He had dropped Eloise off at the school after her doctors appointment, the images of their growing child made him smile. But now the smile was placed with a grim one. Quickly getting out and pocketing his keys, Brian got James out of his car seat and made sure he was bundled up from the cold February air. Brian took the familiar path to his best friends resting place. Holding James closer to him, he froze mid step when he noticed what one of the tombstones read.

Wyatt James Kent
August 21, 1979—March 14, 2010
Loving son, brother, husband, father, and solider.

Brian squatted down and rand his fingers over the stone, seeing the symbols for the medals he was honored. He looked down at the little boy in his arms then back at the tombstone.

“I promise to take care of your little guy,” Brian said quietly then kissed the side of James head. James leaned into Brian as he stood from the ground, making his way over to Jimmy’s grave. Reaching the gut wrenching spot, Brian sat on the grass in front of the stone, noticing all of the flowers and cards family, friends, and fans left. He shifted James so he was comfortable and then just sat in silence.

“Why here?” James asked quietly, looking up at his dad.

“I wanted you to meet my best friend bud,”

“Oh . . . where he?”

“With the angels,” Brian answered, hugging his step son closer to him. “His name was James,”

“My name!”

“Yep, your name but we called him Jimmy. He was crazy, but very smart.” Brian started off saying, knowing that James wouldn’t understand half of it. “We were best friends since we were young, hopefully you’ll find a friend one day like him.”

“Oh-en!” Brian chuckled at James’ attempt to say Matt’s son’s name.

“Yeah, probably will be Owen.” He murmured. “Owen was named after Jimmy, it was his middle name.”

“Baby?”

“That’s right, we have to pick a name out for the baby.” Brian smiled thinking about his baby and how involved and curious James was with everything going in Eloise’s belly. “You hear that Rev? Karma came back and bit me in the ass!”

“Ba word!”

“Our little secret,” James nodded while playing with his dad’s long fingers. “Yeah you heard right Jim, I’m having a little girl. Did you pay off God to do that? I know you’d mess with me like that. Give me a taste of my own medicine down the road. I’m going to buy more bullets tomorrow.” A breeze whipped through the air making Brian and James shiver. “Laugh all you want man, just watch out for us, okay?”

“Mama,” James cried out quietly.

“What about mama?” Brian asked as he stood up from the ground. “I’ll see you sometime Jimbo,” Back at the car, he quickly got James strapped in and turned on the heat. “You want to go see mama?”

“Yeah,”

He drove back to the school, glancing often in his rear view mirror at James. Once there, he grabbed everything and made his way into the front office. After getting his visitors pass and the women cooing over James, Brian made his way down the halls to his wife’s classroom. Knowing the kids were at lunch, Brian walked into her room with a smile.

“Well if this isn’t a surprise!”

“Mama!” James reached out for Eloise wanting her to take him. Brian set him down on her lap then sat on her desk.

“What are you guys doing here?” Eloise asked as Brian leaned against her desk.

“James wanted to see you,” He told her with a smile. “How’s our little girl doing?”

“Kicking, a lot.” Eloise answered with a smile. “You want to feel your little sister kick?” James nodded and let his mom move his hands onto her stomach. “You feel that Jamie?”

“Baby!”

Eloise and Brian chuckled as James kept his hands on her stomach watching to see if anything would happen. Both of them looked up when they heard the class room door open.

“What are you doing here?” McKenna asked as she made her way into the room.

“James wanted to see El, why aren’t you with your friends?”

“Too cold to be out there.” McKenna answered as she leaned against her big brother. “So did you guys find out the sex?” She asked excitedly.

“Yes we did,” Eloise told her with a wide grin.

“Well?!”

“Sissy!” James shouted as the baby kicked again.

“A girl?” Brian and Eloise both nodded. “Ha, karma big brother. You are so screwed.” McKenna teased.

“Yeah I know, I think Jimmy paid off God or something.” Brian rolled his eyes thinking about it.

“Did you tell anyone else?” Eloise asked as she set James down so he could run around with aunt watching him.

“Nope, I didn’t know if you wanted to do something or not.”

“Well, we can figure something out. I know my mom will be excited.”

“Same here,” Brian leaned forward, kissing Eloise.

“Ew,” McKenna and James said making the kissing couple pull away laughing.

“I better get going, class is going to start soon and I need to feed the little guy and get him down for a nap.” Brian took James from his sister and said his goodbye to his wife.

Eloise shook her head after Brian left. McKenna had left not long after him and her next class filed in still buzzing with energy from their lunch.

“Mrs. Haner, did you find out what you’re having yet?” One of her students questioned as Eloise passed out their graded test.

“Yes, we found out this morning.”

“And,” The whole class chorused.

“We’re having a girl.” She told them as she finished passing the test back and sat down at her desk. All the girls in the class aww’d while the guys chuckled or rolled their eyes, disinterested.

“Do you think it’d be okay if we got gifts for the baby?” One of her students asked.

“Oh guys, you don’t have to do that.” Eloise told them knowing it’d be useless because her former students did that when she was carrying James.

“But his fans will probably do it once they find out!” One of the boys in her class told her. Eloise just sighed and shook her head.

“I can’t stop anyone from doing what they want. Now, let’s focus on going over the test, okay?” Eloise rubbed her hand over her stomach as she went over each question and answer with the kids. She knew that having a little girl was going to be very different then when she had her son. She also figured Brian wasn’t going to be the same anymore.